This book is a meticulously-researched history of professional baseball as told through the stories of the 124 franchises that have comprised the major leagues since 1871.
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""Anybody remember the Rochester Hop Bitters? I thought not. It's a book for every student of the game."" -- Martin Levin in Toronto Globe and Mail on April 2, 2005
From the Inside Flap
Every serioous baseball fan knows about the Red Sox, Yankees, Cubs and Dodgers, but who remembers the Rochester Hop Bitters, Chicago Whales and Pittsburgh Stogies. In "Total Ballclubs: The Ultimate Book of Baseball Teams," acclaimed baseball authors Donald Dewey and Nick Acocella bring to life every team -- all 124 of them, including those from the six long-defunct leagues that populated professional baseball during the game's early years -- that has competed in the major leagues since 1871. From the Altoona Mountain Citys to the Worcester Brown Stockings, the authors touch all the bases in a book that picks up where "Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia" left off. With meticulous detail, the authors celebrate baseball history through the stories of its franchises. Rich narrative accounts, key statistics, and often hilarious anecdotes are complemented by almost 300 photographs. No team is overlooked in this entertaining compendium that recounts significant moments in each team's history, as well as delving into engaging stories of the most memorable (and sometimes forgettable) players, managers and owners.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, But No Negro Leagues,
By
This review is from: Total Ballclubs: The Ultimate Book of Baseball Franchises (Paperback)
This is an excellent book that will inform even the most diehard fan about the history of every MLB Ballclub. It seems to be extremely comprehensive in its coverage, but that only includes "white" teams. Unless I have overlooked them (which is possible), I couldn't find any coverage of the Negro Leagues. I can't imagine it would have been that hard to include them.
The articles contained within the book vary based on how long the team has been/was in existence. For instance, the Cubs, Cardinals, Yankees and Red Sox have longer writeups than the Mariners, Expos and Orioles. It gives histories based on the actual team in a certain city and then gives a new history that starts after the team moved (ie Philadelphia A's, Kansas A's and Oakland A's each have their own sections). It also gives separate histories for when a team changes cities and franchises completely (ie the St. Louis Browns to the Baltimore Orioles, or the Washington Senators to the Minnesota Twins and the Texas Rangers). There are also separate histories for the two Washington Senators franchises, as well as tons of short writeups about previous teams in certain cities (ie the Baltimore Orioles - they were a successful team in the late 1890's and then dropped the name for many years until the Browns relocated there). I have a hard time believing that you will be able to find a more comprehensive book about the franchises that have existed since baseball began. There is more information here for the price than anywhere else that I have seen. I gave it four stars instead of five due to the lack of Negro League teams (even though I admit I could have missed them). All in all, this is one heck of a great buy!!
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic,
By
This review is from: Total Ballclubs: The Ultimate Book of Baseball Franchises (Paperback)
As a fan of both history and baseball, a book like this appeals to me in two ways. The history of the game as told through the histories of every team, as well as the events of baseball told as how they affected the teams involved. This book lists the histories of every major league professional team. Now there are those who would argue that a league like the Union Association or even the Players League of the late 1800s weren't really "major" leagues, but I'll leave that argument to others. The teams are listed in alphabetical order from the "infamous" Altoona Mountain Citys (who played for a city with the lowest population of any major league team) through the Worcester Brown Stockings of the 1890s NL (who also had a low population).
Each teams' history is given in complete and concise detail, along with any other names the team may have had during their existence, all the stadiums they played at, their all-time won-loss record, a list of their year by year record, and also certain anecdotes (designated by small "boxes") about team historical events. There are also stories and pictures about each team's famous and "infamous" players. There's also histories of the "other" major leagues, like the Union Association, Federal League, Players' League, and the American Association. It's intriguing to see how the movers and shakers of each era operated. One thing also becomes clear: each era of baseball always had its rich and poor teams, this isn't something that just recently started. Another interesting item I noticed was how many MidWest and Eastern cities had a number of different teams in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At times humorous, at times sad, at times just plain weird, the history of baseball teams reflects society at its best and its worst. This is a book any baseball fan should have.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More about the business end of baseball than the game on the field,
By Polymath (Ithaca NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Total Ballclubs: The Ultimate Book of Baseball Franchises (Paperback)
But where else will you find info on every major league club since 1876? (But not since 1871; the National Association is not included.) Top players' season stats are usually given for each team, and say, Hoss Radbourne's 1884 season is discussed in detail, but to me the primary focus seemed on the owners and their machinations. And purposely or not, the owners generally come off as a bunch of money grubbers who seldom had the good of the game at heart. Or maybe that type of owner is just more interesting to write about. One noticeable thing is that because of the many franchise shifts in the 19th century, there are roughly as many 19th century clubs to write about as 20th century. Of course, since many of the 19th century clubs were short-lived, they take up less space on average. Each team's record, where it placed in the league standings, and its managers are given for each year in a table at the end of that team's entry. However, there are no tables of league standings showing all teams at once; nor are there any tables of player performances included anywhere. Some interesting note about players and others are in brief sidebars and footbars.
I debated about rating the book four stars, since it spends so much time on the business end of baseball, but decided to go with five stars, as where else will you find narrative histories of all the major league baseball clubs in one inexpensive book?
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